Street rallies, #MeToo and the news that shaped 2017 in Massachusetts

Thursday

Social issues were at the forefront in Massachusetts throughout 2017, while important events and achievements in politics, science and the world of sports punctuated the past 12 months.

Social issues were at the forefront in Massachusetts throughout 2017, while important events and achievements in politics, science and the world of sports punctuated the past 12 months.

It was a year that saw a new wave of women find their political voices, as debates raged on about immigrants’ rights and the meaning of free speech. Researchers from Brandeis and MIT made new breakthroughs in medical science and physics, while a marathoner from Marblehead made a major athletic breakthrough of her own. All the while, dozens of victims came forward to shape an evolving cultural dialogue about sexual assault and harassment, including on Beacon Hill.

Taking to the streets

As was the case nationally during Year One of the Trump presidency, a very public debate on a series of social issues made headlines throughout the year in Massachusetts. The day after President Donald Trump took the oath of office, millions of demonstrators took to the streets of Boston to advocate for women’s rights, religious liberty, racial equality, LGBTQ rights and other policies. The Boston Women’s March drew an estimated crowd of 175,000 to Boston Common.

In August, Boston Common again played host to a massive public demonstration when an estimated crowd of up to 40,000 demonstrators showed up to protest the far-right Boston Free Speech Rally. The right-wing gathering, held a week after a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., was dwarfed by the counter-protest.

Although thousands took to the streets to denounce white supremacists, there was a rise in hate incidents in 2017. The Anti-Defamation League released a report in November describing a 32 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Massachusetts in 2017, and a 60 percent increase in the number of such incidents that occurred at schools.

Debates over immigration policy hit close to home in Massachusetts. In his first week in office, Trump signed an executive order threatening to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary cities,” communities with policies against using municipal resources to enforce federal immigration policy. Sanctuary cities in Massachusetts include Somerville, Cambridge, Boston and Holyoke.

At the Statehouse and city halls

Dozens of male celebrities, politicians and public figures across the country were fired or resigned from their jobs after allegations emerged about past sexual misconduct. As victims of sexual harassment and assault found solidarity in the #MeToo movement, one of the most influential figures on Beacon Hill stepped down. Sen. Stan Rosenberg, the first openly gay Senate president in Massachusetts, announced in early December that he would take a leave of absence while the Senate investigates potential ethical violations centered around allegations that his husband, Byron Hefner, groped and forcibly kissed multiple men. Sen. Harriette Chandler is serving as acting Senate president.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Cannabis Control Commission has worked to lay the regulatory groundwork for legal marijuana sales, which are expected to begin in 2018.

Leaders in state and local governments spent part of 2017 assembling proposals to host online retail juggernaut Amazon’s second headquarters. Many analysts consider Boston to be on the shortlist of favorites to land the $5 billion development.

In municipal elections, women found new levels of success on the ballot. Many said Trump’s dramatic victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 spurred them to become more politically active at the local level. Notably, Ruthanne Fuller became the first woman elected mayor in Newton’s history. In Framingham, which transitioned to a city form of government, voters elected a woman, Yvonne Spicer, as their first-ever mayor.

Science and education

Researchers in Massachusetts gained worldwide recognition for their scientific achievements in 2017. Two Brandeis University professors, Michael Rosbach and Jeffrey C. Hall, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms, the biological clock that regulates sleep, metabolism, body temperature and other processes.

MIT professor emeritus Rainer Weiss shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with scientists from Princeton and University of California Berkeley for a joint project called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, a device that can successfully detected gravitational waves.

Astronomy captured the public imagination on Aug. 21, when a solar eclipse was seen across a large swath of the country. The summer also marked a second straight year of increased shark activity in the waters off Cape Cod, fascinating Bay Staters and out-of-state visitors alike.

In the world of K-12 education, the state began searching for a new commissioner to head the department of Elementary and Secondary Education after longtime DESE Commissioner Mitchell Chester unexpectedly died from cancer in June. Chester, who had served as commissioner since 2008, oversaw several major initiatives, including the creation of new curriculum standards, educator evaluation systems and assessments.

Massachusetts students took a revamped MCAS exam in 2017. The new standardized test, which is designed to be taken on computers, is one of the initiatives in which Chester was heavily involved.

The world of sports

Shalane Flanagan of Marblehead made history in 2017, when she became the first American woman in 40 years to win the New York City Marathon. The four-time Olympian and current Chicago Marathon winner announced plans in December to run in the 2018 Boston Marathon.

The New England Patriots, who are in the hunt for their sixth Super Bowl title, put together a performance for the ages in 2017, when they won their fifth. Trailing the Atlanta Falcons 28-3 late in the third quarter, the Patriots staged the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. They proved to the country what many in Massachusetts already knew: you can never count out Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

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